Internal-combustion-engine system



May 29, 1923. 1,456,979

J. GOOD INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Original Filed April 6, 1915 already well known.

Patented May 29, 1523..

UNITED STATES .AT NT JOHN GOOD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GOOD INVENTIONS 00., OF

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. I

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION-EN GINE SYSTEM.

Application filed April 6, 1915, Serial No. 19,610. Renewed June 11, 1920. Serial No. 388,348.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

This specification is to bear witness that 1, JOHN G001), a citizen of the United States, residing in Brooklyn, New York, have invented the following-described Improve.-

ments in Internal-Combustion-Engine Systems.

The invention relates to the use of carburettor-type engines having small clearances and therefore high compression pres sures, and its direct object is to prevent the admission of excessive fuel charges to such engines as will later appear. The invention is illustrated in connection with a vacuum cleaning system in which the engine is used as a source of suction accOrding to principles As so used it eliminates the pump mechanism ordinarily employed in such systems and also affords incidental advantages and economies as will hereinafter appear. In the drawings forming part of this specification,

Fig. 1 represents an engine operating avacuum system in accordance with the invention, parts being in section;

Fig. 2 a modification thereof. The engine shown is a common type of four-cycle combustion engine with a suction operated carburetor or charge-forming apparatus, and having a very small clearance. The intake pipe is connected to the carburetor 2 in the usual Way and the latter is illustrated in the present case as entirely enclosed, except for the adjustment screws and drain cock, in a casing or box 3 to which box air has entrance only through the vacuum pipe 4. The carburetor 2 may be of any usual or suitable type and in the present case may be understood as comprising a float controlled liquid chamber 5 supplied with liquid from a tank 6', and a fuel nozzle 7 leading from the liquid in the chamber to the mixing space 8 which space forms a continuation of the intake pipe 1 as usual. An air check valve 9 loaded with an adjustable spring controls the passage of the air from the casing 3 into the intake and the cover of the liquid chamber is provided with a vent hole 10 by which the pressure of'the air in the casing is transmitted to the liquid chamber, the pressure in said chamber being at all times the same as in the casing 3 outside of the carburetor. The set screws 11 and 12 control respectively the tension of the spring on the air check 9 and the capacity of flow through the fuel nozzle 12. The vacuum pipe 4 is equipped with an automaticthrottle 13 under the control of a flexible diaphragm 14 so combined with a spring and set screw that when the vacuum in the pipe at the service side of the throttle increases for any reason, the throttle is automatically moved'in the direction to open it, and vice-versa, thus tending to maintain a substantially constant condition of relative vacuum on the'engine side of the throttle, but particularly this throttle serves to safeguard the engine against taking in anexcesing hose or vacuum service pipe 17 is connected to the chamber on the opposite side of the bag. \n air vent valve 18 is also connected to the filter chamber, preferably on the same side as the service hose, the spring thereof being adjustable and set to admit air to the vacuum pipe when the air passage through the service hose 17 has reached some predetermined limit of obstruction.

In the operation of the apparatus, the vacuum produced by the suction strokes of the engine piston is of a relatively high degree between the engine and the air check 9 due, of course, to the spring load on the latter, and it is relatively of low degree be-- tween the said air check and the throttle or air filter due to the presence of the restriction represented by the throttle or by the work being done by the service hose. This relatively lower vacuum in the service pipe, however,is of sufficient value to serve adequately the purposes indicated and various degrees of vacuum can be produced and maintained according to the design of the engine and the adjustment of the vent valve 18. This lower degree of vacuum being present in the liquid chamber of the carburetor as well as at the entrance past the air check 9, will cause the liquid fuel of the tank 6 to flow upwardly into the li uid'chamber, if the said tank is at a lower evel, and the flow of the liquid through the fuel nozzle 7 will take place according to the difference of the pressure in the liquid chamber and in the mixing space 8, the operation being 111 no respect different from the carburetor if exposed to atmosphere. Excessive inflow of fuel from the tank 6, due to the relative vacuum in the casing 3, is prevented by the float operated valve 19 quite the same as if the fuel were supplied by gravity or by a forced feed system and a constant level is thereby maintained in the liquid chamher, so that the discharge of the liquid fuel through the nozzle 7 is proportional to the air supply or at least as true to constant proportion as if the carburetor were exposed to atmosphere in the usual way.

It will be evident that the automatic throttle prevents the admission of dangerously excessive charges to the engine as above stated, because for example, as the cleaning tool 20 is raised from the floor and its throttling action on the engine thereby almost entirely removed (substantially corresponding to wide opening of the throttle in a manually controlled engine) the relief of the exposed to atmosphere and, although the dif-,

vacuum on the underside of diaphragm 14 causes the automatic throttle to move immediately toward closing and by proper setting of the spring of throttle 13 it will be apparent that the action may be regulated as esired.

The air chamber 3 which serves as a vesti-. bule to the mixing space of the carburetor may be reduced in size so as in fact to be no larger in diameter than the mixing space itself provided only that the pressure therein be transmitted to the liquid chamber of the carburetor but the larger size, as shown in the drawings, is preferable inasmuch as it serves the effect of an airdome to smooth down the pulsations of the reciprocating piston especially in the case where the engine is single cylinder. The air filter also serves the same purpose.

In Fig. 2 the modification illustrated consists merely in enclosing the crank case of the engine and subjecting the interior thereof and the reverse end of the piston to the same relative vacuum which obtains in the casing 3. This is done by connecting the said crank case into the vacuum pipe between the throttle 13 and the casing so that all the air entering the latter will pass through the crank case. Thereby the difference of pressure ontheopposite ends of the piston, when making its suction strokegds considerably less than if the saidcrank case space were ference is correspondingly greater when the piston is making, its compression stroke, the

general operation is improved and ill-smelling gases and vapors normally issuing from.

the crank case are carried away which is an advantage where the apparatus is installed in dwellings. In both forms described above, the danger from excessive fuel charges is prevented by the automatic throttle and furthereliminated by the safety valve 23, confor preventing disturbance in the operation of the carburetor by variation of the vacuum in said vaccuum pipe and an automatic vacuum-operated throttle in said vacuum pipe.

2. A vacuum system comprising an m- .ternal combustion engine having small piston clearance and a suction operated carburetor, a casing enclosing the air lntake thereof, a vacuum pipe connected to said casing, means whereby the vacuum condition in said casing is transmitted to the liquid chamber of the carburetor and means in saidvacuum pipe for preventing the admission of dangerous charges to the engine. 3. A vacuum system comprising an .internal combustion engine having small pis- ,ton clearance and a suction intake, a vacuum pipe connected with said intake, a suction nozzle connected to said pipe, and' means for subjecting the crank shaft end of the enginepiston to the relative vacuum in said vacuum pipe.

4. The combination of an internal combustion engine'having relatively small is-- ton clearance, an take passage lea n thereto, a suction operated carburetor,'an means operating by change of the relative vacuum in said intake for automatically preventing admission of excessive mixture char e to the engine.

5. he combination with an internal combustion engine having a variable and manuall controlled inlet restriction, of an automatic throttle and means sensitive to the in- 1 take vacuum to close the automatic throttle when the vacuum falls through the variation of said restriction, toprevent the adfiilissionof dangerously excessive charges to 6. 'T e combination with an internal comi bustion engine having manually operable inlet restriction means, of an automatic throttle and -means sensitive to the intake vacuum between said manual means and the automatic -throttle to close the automatic throttle when the vacuum falls, to'prevent the admission of dangerously excessive charges to the engine.

7. In an internal combustion engine, the 0 of lifting liquid fuel from said tank at alower level to the spray means of the carburetor,

a 8. An internal combustion engine'having a closed crank case and a suction intake passage including a carburetor, a float-controlled liquid fuel receptacle for mid car-v burtor, said closed crank case beingsubjejct to the partial vacuum existing in said intake passage and said float-controlled receptacle being also subject to said partial vacuum and variably controlled throttle means ada ted for controlling the flow through sai intake pass.

'9. In an internal combustion engine, an intake n 1. including carburetting means and also including the engine crank-case, .in combination with a fuel supply tank at a level below said carburetting means, said crank-case having an air entrance and the restriction. to flow through said entrance I v wrving to establish a vacuum efiect on said carburetting means suitable for lifting fuel thereto from said supply tank at the ower level.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of .two witnesses. a

' JOHN l Witnesses:

K. L. Guam, (5:. A. Tampa. 

